


You Light My World on Fire

by LogicalParafox (Solitarysynonym)



Series: Larsadie Ficlet a Week Prompt Challenge [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-04-15 00:15:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4585629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solitarysynonym/pseuds/LogicalParafox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lars and Sadie had always been friends but when he desperately needs her to do him a favor, Lars learns a whole new side to his coworker.</p><p>For SoggyWarmPockets' August Larsadie Ficlet Challenge</p><p>Prompt: At the end of Joking Victim Sadie and Lars go off to get Lars cleaned up after the damage from the fire salt is contained. Write where they went and what they talked about.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Light My World on Fire

Even over the blast of the fire extinguisher she could hear Lars shuffling up behind him. She had angrily wiped away the tears before getting back to putting out the fires she had set with her stupid attempt to burn Lars back. Having to extinguish the whole boardwalk was just desserts for giving in to her baser urges but something about seeing Lars on the trampoline had been the last straw. She squared her shoulders, her emotions back under control. “I’m not apologizing,” she said, keeping her back to him. 

“No I… I want to help… But I get it if you want to be alone,” Lars wheezed. She could actually hear the crackle of his burned throat and it melted some of the icy composure she had reestablished. She looked over at him automatically and felt her frustration and anger flare and fizzle in the face of his scorched clothing and obvious physical pain. Remorse flooded her as he held his throat.

“Oh no.. no no… stay… I mean… You can help. But first let’s get you some water… and maybe get you out of those.. burned shirts…” she said hesitantly as he clutched his neck with both hands. Together they walked off the boardwalk and she felt remorse swamping her again as they passed the many many scorched patches he had left in his wake. 

———

His room was back to normal, a barely contained chaos she glimpsed before he slammed the door in her face in a panic. “S…Sorry,” he rasped. “I didn’t… it’s a mess.” 

“Oh… oh right,” Sadie replied, perversely pleased that he hadn’t cleaned up for Jenny and the cool kids. Maybe… maybe ‘player two’ did mean something after all. 

Sadie stood patiently waiting when she heard the telltale sounds of cloth on cloth through the thin door. A momentary wonder if he had any bad burns slipped easily into thinking about him with his shirt off… Sadie forcibly yanked her thoughts away from thinking about her FRIEND that she had just caused to BREATHE FIRE through a poorly planned prank and hurried off down the hallway. “I’ll just.. grab you a cup of water,” she called back over her shoulder, putting her hands to her burning cheeks. 

———

Sadie was frowning at an empty ice tray in her hands when Lars finally came into the kitchen. “How do you get ice out of this?” she asked, shaking the half-filled tray at him. It rattled a little but she couldn’t figure out a way to get individual cubes without dumping it all over the floor. 

“There’s a trick to it,” he said quietly, taking the tray from her and using a thumb nail to pry up the next few cubes and drop them into the mostly-full glass of water she held out. Sadie shifted her weight from foot to foot as Lars drank the whole glass and went back to the sink to refill it. 

“I’m sorry.”

Sadie froze, not sure she had heard correctly over the rush of the sink. His back was to her as well. “Pardon me?” she asked, then silently berated herself for her thoughtless reply. 

Lars sighed and turned back toward her, meeting her eyes for a moment before looking down at the glass in his hands. “You’re right… After all you’ve done for me, I shouldn’t have lied to you.”

Sadie gaped at him, her mind sluggish. Had Lars just apologized to her? On purpose? She tried to remember if she had ever had him apologize for anything. Not for coming in late or asking her to cover for him for yet another shift. Not for insults or brush offs or unmentioned hurt feelings. 

“I said I’m sorry ok?!” Lars practically shouted at her, clutching the glass in his hands. “Why are you just staring at me like that? FINE I’ll prove it by cleaning up the boardwalk my own self!” He downed the second glass and stormed out of the house as Sadie stared after him. 

It took her a few moments to shake off her paralysis and almost a minute to catch up with him as angry strides taken with long legs outdistanced her quickly. “Lars, hey, wait for me!” she finally shouted. 

He took a few more steps before coming to a sullen halt, his hands in his pockets and shoulders hunched. “What,” he grumbled to the sidewalk. 

“Hey I just…” Sadie began, but her determination wavered in the face of his bad mood and some lingering char on his neck reminded her of her many many failures of the day. “I just wanted to accept your apology,” she said to his shoulder. “So… let’s go make sure all the fires are out.” 

“Yeah,” he mumbled as he turned away. 

———

They worked in stony silence for the next few hours, first putting out the last few smoldering patches and finding that most of the damage was nothing if not superficial. The mayor, fortunately, was shouting at his PR director over the phone about how no one had told him ice cream would melt almost immediately and didn’t bother yelling at them for speeding the process along. 

If the boardwalk was mostly unscathed by Lars’ brief fire breathing stint, the same could not be said for the Big Donut. Lars groaned when opening the door let loose a weak trickle of water. There was minimal damage from the fire but the sprinkler system had done more than enough to keep them busy for the rest of the day. Maybe several days. 

“This is going to take forever to clean up!” Lars groaned. “Maybe if SOMEBODY hadn’t tried to KILL me this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Well maybe if SOMEONE hadn’t tried to LIE to me AGAIN we could have been done for the day,” Sadie snarled back. That brief moment of connection as they held hands on the boardwalk had fizzled out ages ago The fact that Lars was already back to complaining just went to show that nothing had changed at all. Maybe he had just been saying sorry because he got caught. He had certainly been happy enough with Jenny Pizza the day before. 

Grumbling internally, Sadie stomped through the puddles to get a mop and a squeegee. No point in soaking the towels this early in the process. 

Sadie barely registered when Lars meekly accepted the mop and got to work on the largest puddles without another peep of complaint 

———

The sun was beginning to go down by the time the floor no longer resembled a lake. Lars straightened with a groan and a popping sound. 

“Ow..” Lars said in surprise, wincing and rubbing his spine. 

“…If you say that you can’t clean any more because you hurt your back Lars so help me I will–” Sadie snapped. 

He froze, staring at her wide eyed, but abruptly his pained and sulky expression split into a grin. “No! No no that’s…” Lars was chuckling, one hand wrapped around the mop handle. “That’s what started all this! I’m not doing that again!” He clutched the mop for support as he snickered. 

“I.. I mean you… you lit my mouth on FIRE….” he laughed. “What would you do next time? Give me food poisoning with one of your mom’s old lunches?” 

Sadie rolled her eyes but couldn’t fight a grin as Lars gasped for breath. “No no… that would be cruel and unusual,” she countered, laughing a little. 

“Cruel… and unusual….” he wheezed, leaning back against the wall as he tried to calm down. 

“Yeah!! Although it might be better for the boardwalk if next time you lie to me I poison you,” she teased. 

“Aww c’mon Sadie I’m not going to lie to you again!” Lars declared, pouting. 

“Sure you aren’t,” she replied, turning her back to him and getting back to cleaning the glass doors of the fridges. 

“Sheesh it was just one lousy day,” he complained, throwing the mop to the ground and folding his arms stubbornly. “And I really DID hurt my back slipping in the Steven mess.” 

Sadie gritted her teeth and sprayed more cleaner on the glass, polishing off water spots. Memories of other times Lars had asked for favors kept bubbling up and she determinedly focused her attention on making the glass sparkling clean. 

She could hear him grumbling and stomping toward her, finally coming to a halt close enough that she could smell the lingering scorched smell wafting off his jeans. Sadie ignored him, continuing to clean the glass though she couldn’t quite figure out why Lars smelled a little sweet under the smoky char. 

“YOU’RE the one who volunteered to let me go home anyway,” Lars huffed, looming over her. It would have been more imposing if she hadn’t been so distracted with trying to figure out why he smelled a little like caramel. 

“Oh, ice cream!” Sadie said, grimacing when she realized she had said it aloud. Sugar + heat = caramel. She opened her mouth to explain her non sequitur when she realized his surprise was a good opening. She got to her feet with as much dignity as she could manage with a roll of paper towels under one arm and a bottle of glass cleaner in the other. “Look Lars, I get that it was wrong of me to stoop to your level,” she said coolly. “Even if you had lied and ditched work to jump on a trampoline with other people.” 

Lars actually flinched a little, taking a step back and folding his arms defensively over his chest. 

Sadie stood up a little taller. Her eyes were dry as she took a step toward him. “Steven offered to help me prank you and I didn’t know it was going to get so… out of hand. Even so it was wrong of me to do, but I’m not going to apologize. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt but you DID mean to lie to me,” she said, a little startled when he stumbled over the mop handle. She had backed him all the way to the drink counter without realizing it. Lars stared at her wide eyed. Sadie had never seen him look so awestruck, not even when Buck Dewey had come into the store and known Lars’ name. 

“…And that’s all I have to say on the matter, so get back to work.”

“Yes ma’am,” he said, his eyes still wide as he obediently picked up the mop and got back to work, quietly clearing up the last of the puddles and sneaking occasional surprised glances at her when he thought she wasn’t looking. 

Sadie turned her back on him confidently and started working on cleaning the front of the donut case, only letting a pleased smile cross her face when she was sure he couldn’t see. Maybe now he wouldn’t try to ditch work for a while… and maybe, just maybe, he didn’t think of her as such a fool now.


End file.
